The Ishvalan War of Extermination
by Articlena
Summary: I stole the title from the title of an episode. Sue me. This wasn't a war. It was a massacre And the slaughter of so many innocent lives will not be forgotten or forgiven. Not ever.
1. Chapter 1

**__I wrote this randomly. Its long enough that I may just leave it as a__** ** _ _one-shot__** ** _ _, but I also am seriously thinking about continuing it and making it a story. If I continue it I'll need to find someone to edit for me, since I'm not very good at finding little mistakes in my own writing and editing after writing all that is just boring. I just had a stroke of inspiration and if it continues then I'll continue this lol.__**

 _1908, East Amestris, Frontline of the Ishvalan Conflict. King Bradley issued order 3066, sending State Alchemists to the front line of the Ishvalan Civil War._

It wasn't safe. It hadn't been safe anywhere for seven years now. The conflict had torn appart town after town, family after family, but the Ishvalan people would not give in. Too much damage had already been done to just give up now. But now it was too late.

By the time Tehya had heard that they were bringing in State Alchemists, it was too late to run. Their town had been over run with Amestrian Soldiers three days ago, and Tehya had no choice but to take her daughter and flee her home, taking refuge in a cellar beneath a neighboring building, along with four other women, and six children, all of them ages three to thirteen. Tehya would have regretted the decision because of the cramped conditions, if it weren't for the fact that her house was ransacked and all but destroyed later on that night.

The second day they went into hiding, they heard voices above them. Amestrian soldiers had made their way into the building, tearing apart and taking whatever they found. Tehya held her breath and waited fearfully for the soldiers to leave the building, her arms wrapped around her young daughter the entire time. No one spoke for the rest of the day, even after they were sure that the soldiers were no longer in the building, and their silence lasted well into the night.

On the third day, the explosions started. She heard the rumbling, and it seemed far off, but as the day went on it grew more distinct. Soon, their little bunker began to quake from the blasts, dirt falling from the roof and covering them, stinging their eyes and clouding their lungs. Voices could also be heard. Not from in the building, but outside.

Screams always accompanied each new blast, and Tehya was sure she could smell smoke. They were setting fire to her hometown, anything that wasn't destroyed by the blasts would be be burned to the ground. She shook with fear, but kept her voice stead, for the sake of her child. It was cruel, that her baby would have to die like this. Burned by the fire that engulfed many parts of their town, blown to bits, crushed to death by their slowly crumbling shelter, or just plain shot through the head by some stupid, mindless soldier. She only hoped that whatever killed them, it would be quick and painless.

The ground quaked and screams filled the air for well over an hour before the trapdoor to their little shelter was suddenly ripped open. Tehya squeezed her eyes shut, holding her little girl tightly, who hid her face in her mother's shoulder.

To her surprise, it was an Ishvalan soldier. She'd never seen him before, but she couldn't have been more relieved.

"OUT, EVERYONE OUT," The man screamed, gesturing frantically for them to follow. Tehya knew that this would be the only chance her little girl had to survive, she had to take it, regardless of how scared she was.

The group ran out, Tehya and Pima close to the back of the group. A group of Ishvalan soldiers stood in the building, herding them out, yelling frantic orders. Fall back, run, do not stop for anything.

They ran for the exit, the plan was to follow the group to an area of the town where the explosions had stopped and the fires had mostly died down. Anything would be better than where they were right now, hiding right below the heart of the war.

One of the first things that Tehya noticed was how overwhelming the sounds were. She swore that if she lived, she would never forget this sound, the sound of death and war and suffering.

She wasn't sure exactly what happened, but as she neared the exit, the entire structure began to shake around her, and actually began to crumble, as if it was made of nothing more than dry dirt.

The explosion came from directly in front of them, and left her with ringing ears and shaking legs. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening a second explosion went off, this time she and her daughter were both tossed to the ground from the force of it, the building around them was beginning to crumble.

Bits of the building were lodged into her skin from the explosion, her body was wracked with pain, though most of it was from her leg. She wasn't sure what happened, but it hurt like hell.

When her head finally cleared, the first thing she did was look for her daughter, who was a few feet away from her, now sitting up, crying and covered in scrapes and bruises. A soldier, who was in the building with them when the explosion went off. He rose to his feet, first pulling her daughter up, and then helping her stand. The entrance to the building was destroyed completely, the bodies of the women and children who had hid with her, and the soldiers who tried to help them, lay scattered about. The sight was grotesque, and she could hardly resist the urge to vomit at the sight of the dismembered bodies of her neighbors and their children.

She pushed aside those feelings of disgust and sorrow and followed the soldier, who now carried her daughter, towards the exit.

The man exited first, Tehya struggled to keep up with him. She felt week, but before she even had a chance to call out to him, another blast hit, directly between her and the soldier. They were barely out of the building when it happened.

Tehya died instantly. She was too close to the explosion, and though it was grotesque, if she felt anything at all, it would have only been for a split second. The soldier and her daughter hadn't been so lucky. The blast killed the man, who had been in an equally grotesque state, though he lived long enough to let a strange and horrifying gurgling sound before he died. The little girl was thrown from the man who'd been carrying her. Her arm, which had been wrapped around the man's neck, was all but blown off, right past her elbow, and the rest of her was not in much better condition. Sever burns covered her, and debris from the explosion was launched deeply into her skin.

She landed several feet away, and could do nothing but scream. The pain overwhelmed all of her other senses, all she saw was white, and the horrible ringing in her ears covered the sound from other possible explosions.

Through her senses started to clear, she still writhed in pain, and was bleeding profusely. She opened her eyes and instantly regretted it, the bloody scene before her was to much to handle.

She shook as she vomited, clutching her stomach with her remaining, although badly burned hand. Whether it was from the sight of her mother's mangled body, or the pain, she wasn't sure.

It grew quieter around her as the minutes passed, and she began to feel weaker, if that was possible. She flipped onto her back and watched the smoke rise into the sky. She could hear voices far away, screaming, but she wasn't bothered by them anymore.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breath normally, but couldn't seem to stop gasping for air no matter how deeply she breathed. She was going to die in the middle of a war zone. Alone.

She stayed that way for several more minutes, until the sound of footsteps shocked her out of it.

Her eyes flew open, ready to see what horrible thing was about to happen next.

She stared wide eyed as a man slowly approached her from the smoke and rubble. She felt a spark of hope, but it quickly died when she could see him clearly. He wasn't Ishvalan, but one of them. A state Alchemist.

She stared at him, not daring to blink or even move as he stalked towards her. He stopped a few feet away from her, having to step over the bodies of the soldier and her mother. He stared down at her, eyes wide with horror and disgust at the sight of the bloodied and mangled child, who stared straight back at him.

"Just kill me quickly." She said, her voice hoarse and barely audible from inhaling so much smoke and dust.

The man just stood there, for a moment, before he turned away from her, hand covering his mouth and eyes screwed shut tight. He took a deep breath before he turned back around, clearing the distance between them and kneeling down beside her. Her wounds weren't too bad, other than her arm. There was practically nothing left of it, leaving bone and torn flesh open to all the dust and smoke. The bleeding had slowed for sure, but it was still horrible, and if he didn't stop it very quickly, she would bleed out. He wasn't actually sure how she hadn't already.

"I'm going to cauterize the wound. It'll be extremely painful."

"HA!" Was the girls only response. If she hadn't been so close to death she might have really laughed, but that was all she could muster, and she felt that that single syllable got her message across pretty clearly. Seven out of the ten years she'd been alive, a war ravaged her home. What was one more painful experience?

She watched through narrowed eyes as he carefully removed a ring from his hand, and tucked it away in a pocket. His white gloves, clear of any markings aside from what she recognized vaguely as an alchemic symbol, were soon covered in her blood. One hand held her down firmly. He raised his other arm, and with a snap of his fingers, she was suddenly filled with a pain that was ten times worse than before.

The girl let out a horrified scream and struggled against him, thrashing violently. She sobbed and begged him to stop, but the pain just wouldn't end, and she finally blacked out after what felt like eons, but was really only seconds.


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to try and continue it, I think it's going well so far. For once I actually feel motivated to keep** **writing** **. I think for now I'll** **focus on Pima and Mustang getting use to eachother. Natually they would be tense around eachother, and she would distrust him. It'll get less boring soon. If you enjoy it please review, I'd like to know if people actually want me to keep going lol. And let me know if you see any errors, too.**

The little girl slept for several days after Roy found her, only waking up for a few minutes at a time, and then falling right back into a deep sleep. He'd taken her into a medical tent situated just outside of the city, that was for Amestrian soldiers. He had to fight to get them to treat her, using his higher rank and barking orders until they'd finally listened to him.

They insisted that she be treated with the other Ishvalans, who'd surrendered and been removed to medical tents as well, but he insisted that she receive immediate medical attention from the Amestrian doctor.

Her arm had been treated and sewed up. After the explosion, there was nothing left of her left arm but a stump, ending right below her shoulder. The doctors had decided that it would have been better if they'd just removed it all, and Roy was just glad that she'd been unconscious through the whole ordeal.

But now he was growing impatient. She'd been sleeping for almost four days now, and he was starting to doubt that she'd ever fully recover.

He wasn't even sure why he really cared so much. She was no different from the other innocent children that had been slaughtered in the wake of the State Alchemists, and he'd done nothing to help any of them. Many of their deaths had been a direct result of his alchemy, actually.

But when he saw her lying there in that bloodied state, a woman and a soldier which he assumed were her parents, laying a few feet away, blown to bits, which he assumed were her parents, he knew that he couldn't just leave her there. The 'war' was over, they'd one. There was no reason for anybody else to die, especially a little girl who'd already gone through so much in such a short span.

He sat in a chair beside her bed and observed her. She had all the same features of your typical Ishvalan. Her white hair was just past her shoulders, and was fanned out in messy curls across her pillow, now that is was clean and no longer matted with blood. She was still very young, probably around nine or ten, maybe eleven at the most. She looked like a little doll, he thought, if it weren't for the burns and cuts that littered her body. There was one particularly bad cut across her cheek that would scar, but the rest would heal rather well, aside from a few of the burns on the left side of her body from the explosion.

She began to stir slightly, her eyes suddenly snapping open and she shot straight up, looking around her frantically. Her eyes landed on him, widening as she scooted back as far as she could to put some distance between them. The pair stared at eachother for a few moments, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"You didn't kill me." She said, watching him carefully, as if she thought he would just jump and attack her at any second. He didn't blame her for being so weary, but it was kind of annoying.

"No, I actually saved you." She didn't respond, instead just drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, still staring him down.

The quiet quickly went from tense to awkward. "What's your name? How old are you?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Pima. I'm ten." He nodded at her short response.

"Was that your family? That was with you?"

She hesitated before answering. "No. That was my mom, but I didn't know that man. He was a soldier that found us, and was trying to help us run." He nodded again.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He had no clue what to say to this little girl, but this was apparently not it.

"My loss? What do you mean my loss? Do you mean the death of my father, after he was drafted in the first year of the war? Or are you refering to my mother, who was literally torn to pieces in front of me? Or do you mean my home, culture, and entire way of life? Or maybe my damn arm? Which loss are you referring to? Hmm?" The fear in her eyes was replaced with rage, and she stared him down more fiercely than before.

"All of it. I'm sorry for all of it." He stared forward blankly, not looking at her anymore.

"Who are you?" She demanded after a few more moment of silence.

"Roy Mustang." She nodded, and gave a small 'ok'.

He left after that, informing the doctor that she was awake and would require attention, and then slipped out of the tent.

He wasn't sure why he decided to take her into his home. The girl obviously hated him, and he didn't blame her. He was a State Alchemist, she had every reason to. The car ride there was silent, as well as the tour of the house he gave her.

Her eyes were instantly drawn to the bookshelf when they entered the livingroom. She made her way to it, running her fingers across the spines, while reading several of the titles. "Am I allowed to read these?" She turned to him.

"They're all about alchemy."

"And?"

"I'd been under the impression that the Ishvalan rejected alchemy."

"Yes, we did. But times have changed. Besides, I don't see any harm in just reading." She said, giving the slightest hint of a smile.

She picked one and made her way to a comfy looking chair, plopping down and making herself comfortable, as if to show that she had no plans on moving for quite some time.

She seemed unbothered by his presence, but he was still uncomfortable around her. She looked up at him after flipping through the pages of her chosen book for a few minutes. "Don't you have a job to do, Alchemist?"

"I've been given some time off."

"For your 'service' in the war?" She challenged

"I guess you could say that." He stared back at her. Regardless of his actions in the war he would not let this little girl push him around.

She sighed and turned her attention back to the book in her hand, and he took that as his cue to leave her alone for now.

It would take some time, but he hoped that someday she'd be less standoffish. She was always on the defense, even now as she was reading, she looked tense. Roy mimicked her sigh, and left the room.

Dinner was a quiet affair as well, and equally as awkward. Pima was surprised when he asked her if she wanted anything specific, and she said no, so they ended up eating a simple stew, which was fine with her.

They ate in silence, and when they were done she stood, stacked her plate onto his, and carried them over to the sink, rinsing them and leaving them there to be washed later.

"Thanks for the meal. I'm going to bed now, I think." She said, wandering off to the other side of the house, where the guest room, now her room, was located. She left before he could give her an answer, but that was fine with him.

Maybe it was a mistake bringing her here. He tossed this idea around for awhile as he sat on the couch, book in hand, though he wasn't making much progress in reading it.

She clearly was unhappy, but, she'd probably have issues adjusting to any new home. It didn't help that he was a State Alchemist, but he felt responsible for her. He had saved her, so he would try to take care of her.

Besides that, she hadn't really done much to give him and hope of her warming up. She was cold towards him, though that was to be expected. Her answers were short, unless he struck a nerve. Then, they were long and filled with anger, like the first conversation they had. She was bitter, and didn't hold back with her criticism of him of the other State Alchemists, and of the world in general. She had a lot of valid points as well, and she argued like a professional, debating with the skill of a seasoned politician.

She was filled with a hatred for the world, but instead of letting her emotions overtake her, she made logical arguments against him and proved her case eloquently. She'd be a great asset, he thought, if she could ever learn to trust him.

He was snapped out of these thought when the silence was broken by a bloodcurdling scream, coming from her room. He tossed the forgotten book aside and ran to the room, throwing the door open to find Pima sitting up, knees to her chest, her face hidden as sobs wracked her body.

She looked up and before he had a chance to say anything, she flew out of bed and all but tossed herself at him, clinging to him fiercely. She buried her head in his chest and continued to sob, and he brought his arms up around her, trying to offer what comfort he could.

She shook like a leaf, and between sobs he could make out her saying things like 'not fair' and 'mom'. He just shushed her, rubbing her back soothingly as she cried.

Once she calmed down enough, she pulled away from him. The awkwardness was back, and worse than ever.

"The nightmares will be there for a while, but they will eventually go away." He took a seat in a chair beside her bed, and she followed his example, and sat criss cross on the bed, facing him.

"Do you have nightmares?"

He hesitated. "...Yes, I do. What happened was was a grizzly experience. It would give any sane person nightmares."

"I saw my mom dying. I saw all of those children that hid with us, blown apart in front of me again. And that man that tried to save us. I saw him. I don't even know his name. I could **feel** the explosion. I could feel my arm being blown off, and the shrapnel. I could smell the smoke." She was crying again, but this time it was quiet. She looked defeated.

"I'm sorry. No one should have to go through that. Especially not a child."

"Sometimes," She took a deep breath before looking up at him, "I can still feel my arm, like it's there. And then I look down and it's just gone."

"Phantom limb, it's not uncommon for people to have after losing an arm or leg."

"What am I supposed to do? I'm useless now. I think I would have been better off if you'd just left me there. I'd be with my mother." She paused. "She's with God now. She'd be judged and accepted into his arms."

"Then you can take comfort in that. She wouldn't have suffered, her death was instant from the looks of it. If she's where you say she is, then don't you think she's happy? She'd be reunited with your father." He hoped that she'd be comforted by this. Though he wasn't religious, he hoped that the idea of her loved ones being reunited would help her somehow.

"She should be with me! Or I should be with her! It's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair, kid. Don't you think that she'd be happy you survived?" She nodded.

"Then think about that. Your mother and that soldier didn't die so you could whine about how unfair life is. They didn't die so you could sit around and feel sorry for yourself." She looked down, feeling ashamed of herself. He was right, of course. All she'd done since she woke up in that medical tent was think about how miserable she was, how much she'd lost. Other people had lost a lot, too.

"Its alright to be sad, and to mourn. But that's no excuse for taking the fact that you survived for granted." He spoke gently. She nodded and sighed.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Will you be ok if I leave?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Sorry if I woke you up.

"You didn't." He rose from his seat and went for the door. Before he closed it he turned back to her. "Sleep well."

"Yeah, you too."


	3. Chapter 3

They soon fell into a comfortable routine. Pima didn't fully trust him, but she knew that didn't mean her any harm. It took a while, but she grew more comfortable as the weeks went by. He'd be returning to work at the beginning of next week, and the routine she'd grown used to would come to an end.

When Pima asked him what she'd do when he went back to work, Roy shrugged. "You could go to school, I guess, but-"

"No. That's a horrible idea," she interrupted him.

"It'd give you something to do every day. You'd meet new people, learn, most schools have libraries too so-"

"I have one arm. And I'm Ishvalan." She interrupted him again, this time allowing all her annoyance to leak into her voice.

"Right." They sat at the kitchen table, a chess board sitting between them. He leaned onto his elbows, fingers laced together in front of him as he thought, more about her question than the board game.

"I'm bored of this. We should play swindle instead." She said as she rose, her chair scraping across the ground as she did. She was determined to find some source of amusement, even if it killed her. She scanned the bookshelf, which was filled with cheap game sets that'd picked up from a second-hand shop.

"I'm not a fan of marbles."

"How about cards? I can play go fish, old maid, and-"

"What about Solitar?" He said as he rose from his own chair.

"I never learned that one, besides it looks kind of boring anyways- who wants to play cards alone?" She turned back around and watched him clean up their unfinished game, carefully placing it back in its box.

"Here, I'll put it back," She said, reaching her hand out.

"It's fine, I've got it." He carried it over to the shelf and gently put it back in its place, and she frowned at him.

"I wouldn't have dropped it. It's not even heavy."

He ignored her, picking up a pack of cards and returning to his seat at the table. She sighed, but didn't push it, and decided to rejoin him at the table.

He pulled the deck of cards out of its box and began to expertly shuffle them. "Go Fish it is."

They fell silent as he dealt the cards, but this one lacked the tension and awkwardness. They were less on edge around each other than before.

After dealing out the appropriate amount of cards, he spread the remaining ones face down on the table. "So, no to school. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Can't I just go to work with you?" She asked, rearranging her cards.

"No. Do you have any threes?"

"Go fish. Why can't I? I'd be better off there than I would be at some stupid school."

He drew a card from the ones on the table and placed it in his hand. "Because you don't know how to keep your opinions to yourself. Do you really want to be surrounded by military officials every day?"

"Well it's better than sitting here, being bored all day. Any nines?"

He sighed and tossed his card at her. She smiled triumphantly and set the pair of nines aside. "It's a bad idea. Fours?"

She handed him a card. "Still think it'd be better than school. Sevens?"

"Go fish. When I go back, I'll have to start investigating and recruiting possible State Alchemists. There were many who resigned because of their part in the war." He watched her carefully, but her face gave away nothing, so he continued. "I may have to travel to meet them. If I do, you'll come with me, but otherwise, if you don't go to school, you'll stay here while I work."

She nodded. "I can leave the house though, right? I mean, you don't really expect me to stay locked up in here all day."

"Fine with me, as long as you stay out of trouble, and you don't get yourself lost. Twos?" She grumbled as she tossed him another card.

"You know you could have let me win just one game." She complained as they walked together down the street.

"Where's the fun in that? If you want to win, you'll have to do it yourself."

"But seven games in a row? You beat me at every single one we played! That's not fair." She pouted.

"Life's not fair." She sighed and nodded.

"So you've told me." Pima had finally gotten tired of losing and had insisted that they take a walk to get ice cream. Roy figured it would be good for her to learn her way around a bit, so he agreed to it.

Every once in awhile they would pass someone on the street, and each time they would stare Pima down. It made her uncomfortable, and she'd taken to walking closer to Roy, using him to hide herself from their judgemental eyes. She wasn't sure if it was because she was Ishvalan, or if it was because she only had one arm. Either way, it was wearing her down.

They'd gotten their ice cream, and argued as they ate it, sitting on a bench in front of the little shop. Roy quickly learn that even if she didn't really care about the subject, she'd pick an opposing view just to have something to fight about. She would always find something to argue about, and if she couldn't, she'd make something up and argue about that. But it was entertaining and harmless, so he indulged her and argued back.

The rest of the weekend passed in a similar manner, and before she knew it it was Monday morning, and Roy would be going back to work.

"There's leftovers, bread, cereal, we should have milk-"

"I'll be fine here," Pima said, giving him a bored look over the top of her book. She was seated sideways in the chair in the living room, back against one plush arm and legs tossed over the other. She'd been nagging him all weekend, but he refused to let her go to work with him.

"I should be back around five or six."

"M'kay."

"My office number is on the counter, along with the neighbors' number if you need anything."

"Yep."

"Don't talk to strangers, and don't wander too far from the house. And remember that-"

"Roy just leave. I'm fine."

"Ok," he said with a sigh. He hesitated before walking out the door, saying, "Make sure to call if anything happens."

"Yes, I get it, now will you stop nagging me and leave? Won't you be late or something?"

He sighed, shaking his head and heading out the door, leaving Pima alone. Once she was sure he was gone, she hopped off the chair and tossed her book onto it, heading to her room to find her jacket and shoes. She decided she wanted to spend the day out, and grabbed her messenger bag, stuffing the little journal and sketchbook that Roy had gotten for her in it, along with some pens of every colour, and coloured pencils.

When she was done she quickly pulled on her jacket and shoes, then grabbed the bills he left on the counter for her, he said she could go to the ice cream shop if she wanted, and grabbed the book from the chair as well, before heading towards the door.

Once she was outside, she practically hopped down the stairs of the little front patio, eager to wander by herself. She decided her first stop would be the ice cream shop, and then the park.

She had been walking for about 10 minutes, and noticed how the buildings went from more of a suburban neighborhood to apartments with little shops scattered about between them. She also noticed that there were more people to stare and give her dirty looks, and she found herself really wishing that Roy was there for her to hide behind. It was easier to ignore people when she had him to glare back at them, but she refused to let their mean looks ruin her day out, and simply stared straight ahead and tried her best to ignore them.

She reached the shop after a few more minutes, and was greeted by the friendly old woman who served her and Roy every other time she'd been there. The woman smiled at her, commenting on how she was alone, and asked where her dad was.

"Oh, he's not my dad. We're not related, we don't even look alike." Pima laughed a bit, not really understanding how somebody could mistake her for his child when she was very clearly Ishvalan.

"Just because you're not family by blood, doesn't mean that he can't be your dad. He sure seems to act like a dad, don't you think?" The woman said, her kind smile never leaving.

"I wouldn't know, I've never had a dad. Can I please have a chocolate ice cream cone?" Pima knew she was being rude, and that Roy wouldn't be happy with her if he was here, but she really didn't feel like talking about her nonexistent family to the woman, regardless of how nice she was.

After getting her ice cream, she made her way to the park, that was only a few blocks over from the little shop. She sat in the grass, drawing as she listened to the other children playing. She always enjoyed drawing, even though she wasn't all that good at it. But Roy encouraged her to draw, read, and write, saying they were good pastimes since she refused to go to school.

She was busy drawing a bird that she'd seen earlier, sitting in a tree. She was colouring in the wings when a ball rolled up and bumped against her foot, making her look up. There was a little girl standing about a yard away from her, staring at the ball with nervous eyes. She was probably a few years younger than Pima, and had bright green eyes and blonde hair.

Pima set down her book and coloured pencil, before taking the ball in her hands and standing up. "Is this yours?" She said politely. The girl nodded. "Ok, well here you go." She said, clearing the space between them and holding the ball out. The girl took it hesitantly, and mumbled something that Pima couldn't quite hear. "What was that"?

"What happened to your face? And arm?" She said shyly, shuffling her feet, making Pima raise her eyebrows. No one had ever outright asked her what happened, most people were either too polite, or too busy glaring at her like the was the cause of all the world's problems, but the little girl probably didn't realize that she was being rude, so Pima let it go.

"I got hurt really badly a while ago, and my arm was hurt too bad to save, so it was cut off. And I got hit by something sharp in the air, and it cut my face. But I'm ok now." She smiled at the girl, who looked up at her now, seeming much more brave know that she knew Pima wouldn't yell at her.

"What's your name?" The girl asked.

"Pima, you?"

"Katie."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Katie." She smiled at the girl, Katie, who returned one shyly before saying, "Are you Ishvalan? My mom said that Ishvalan people have white hair and red eyes." Pima nodded.

"Yeah, I am."

"My mom said Ishvalans are mean and primitive. I don't know what that means, but you don't seem mean. You seem really nice."

Pima smiled sadly. "Well thanks, I try to be nice. Maybe your mom just needs to meet somebody whos Ishvalan, then she'll see we're really not that bad."

Katie opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by loud yelling before she could. "Katie get over here right now! Don't talk to that girl!" A blonde woman was storming up to them, and Pima knew instantly that she would be trouble.

"She was giving my ball back, moma." The little girl said, looking down at her feet.

"I don't care," The woman snapped and grabbed the little girl by the arm when she reached them, pulling her away from Pima. "You stay away from my kid, we don't need your kind here and I definitely don't need you around my child! Why don't you go back where you came from and leave us be!" Pima stared at the woman, eyes wide and jaw slack. The nerve of some people! She knew Roy would want her to walk away, to not make things worse but she couldn't control herself.

"Go back where I came from? Oh you mean my hometown, that you people fucking blew to bits? Right after killing all my family and friends, of course. You mean that place? Because guess what lady, there's nothing left for me to go back to because of your people, so before you go screaming monster maybe you should take a look in the mirror. I pray your kid doesn't end up as ignorant as you." She snapped. She quickly gathered her belongings and shoved them into her messenger bag before storming away, tears leaking from her eyes.

She brushed them away with the sleeve of her jacket and practically ran the rest of the way home. With burning lungs she pushed the door open and slammed it behind her, finally letting her tears fall freely. It wasn't her fault! None of this was her fault and yet people still wanted to treat her like she was the scum of the earth.

She ran to her room and dropped her belongings on the floor before throwing herself onto the bed, stuffing her face into the pillow to muffle her cries. She wasn't sure how long she laid there, but she cried until her head was pounding and she had no more tears to shed. She pulled herself up and off the bed and walked over to the radio that rested on the desk across the room, flipping it on.

Soft music filled the room as she made her way back to her bed, but instead of throwing herself down this time she chose to curl up under the covers, falling into an uneasy sleep and staying that way until Roy came home. She refused to tell him what happened, but she was quiet for the next few days, and it bothered him greatly. He had hoped she'd be able to trust him enough to tell him what upset her by now, but he knew that she needed more time, so he didn't push the issue, and just tried to keep her company instead.


End file.
